Don’t Poke The Bear

Chapter 12 Jack Owen

POV Jack Owen

That Saturday we made our way over to Bunny’s flat and I could tell it was all paid for by her family. It must have cost millions but she was a hippy artist that hadn’t sold any art. Bunny and Ashton didn’t seem to have anything in common and I knew he was just using her. I think he thought if he dated Bunny he would make Frankie jealous. But I knew Frankie didn’t give a s**t about him. I had missed her in those past few months but I kept reminding myself that I didn’t really know her, I just missed the idea of her. One by one the Archer brothers arrived with their wives and some of them had kids. The kids all went into Bunny’s bedroom to play as we sat around the huge dinning table to have lunch. To my horror the food was all vegan and absolutely disgusting. The thought of amazing Italian cooking was the main reason I had agreed to go with him and I shot daggers across the table to my brother as Bunny pawed all over him. We all had a few glasses of red wine when there was a knock on the door and it was their sister Kitten. I have to admit looking at her broke my heart. She was skin and bone and she looked like she had a drug problem. She was vacant and quiet and my heart went out to her. Bunny asked her to take off her shoes and the room fell silent as the poor soul apologised as she slipped them off. “Go and put them next to the door” she said and Fox stood up “I’ll put them at the door for you little kitten” he said as he gave Bunny a dirty look. All the brothers and their partners laughed and joked with me and each other but I got the impression that none of them were particularly fond of Bunny. I didn’t blame them because she seemed stuck up. She didn’t look like any of the family because she had short blonde hair and I noticed that every time she spoke one or more of them would roll their eyes at each other. She was bossy and snapped at the kids and I wondered what my brother had got himself in to. Kitten pushed her food around her plate then excused herself and went into Bunny’s bedroom to play with the kids. Tiger asked Bunny why Wolfie, Mamba, the Beast and Teddy weren’t there and there was an awkward silence. Bunny said Mamba was working and that she forgot to invite the others and Monkey was seriously pissed off. “Well I mentioned to Teddy that we were coming here today for lunch so he won’t be happy” he said and Bunny didn’t seem to care, well that was until the front door of her apartment slammed and in walked Frankie. She looked incredible and I had been trying to convince myself that I didn’t miss her but when I seen her my heart leapt out of my chest. I looked at Ashton and he looked like he was about to explode with excitement. She strutted in and she didn’t look happy. She had her hands clenched at her sides and she was taking calming breaths. I wondered why she was so upset. “What the f**k is going on here?” She asked but she didn’t wait for an answer. “I hear you’re having a lunch and forgot to invite your big brothers” she said as she stared at Bunny. Bunny was squirming in her chair and everyone was silent. Frankie totally ignored the fact that Ashton and I were there. It was awkward but Frankie stood there staring like she was going to jump over the table at Bunny and none of the brothers tried to calm her down. Lions wife got up and quickly rushed into the other room and I didn’t blame her. “I’m going to go down stairs and get Teddy and when I come back I want every one of you on your feet cheering” she turned to walk away when Kitten came into the room “Hi Wolfie” she said and Frankie stopped in her tracks she stared at the poor girl and narrowed her eyes. Frankie was intimidating but if she would have said anything to Kitten I knew that I would have had to defend her. She slowly walked towards her and my back was up, I didn’t want to argue with Frankie but I couldn’t let her be unkind to her sister, this poor girl obviously had a lot of problems. To my surprise Frankie took a deep breath and said “you look amazing. Did you get your hair done? Seriously Kitten you are the most beautiful girl in the whole world. Mamba called me yesterday to say you are staying with her I had no idea you would be here today” I was surprised by how different she treated her sisters. She gave Kitten a warm smile and looked down at her feet. “Where are your shoes?” Kitten didn’t know what to say and she stood there staring at the floor. “They’re at the door” said Monkey and Frankie spun round and pointed her finger at Bunny. “Did you tell her to do that?” She shouted and Lion stood up and put himself between them. Kitten shouted “no I took them off” and I wondered why this was such a big deal. Frankie turned and said “I’ll be back in a minute” when she left I seen Fox exhale like he’d been holding his breath the whole time. Then he said “Little kitten put your shoes on” he gave her a smile and she did as she was told. Then he turned to Bunny and said “what are you playing at?” She shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal and even I was angry with her even though I had no idea what was going on. When the door opened again it was Frankie and her whole demeanour had changed “ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, I present to you all, every bodies favourite big brother, the man of the hour, the love of my life, Mr Theodor ‘Teddy bear’ Archer” and everyone stood up and cheered as a huge man with jet black hair came in. He was wearing a sharp suit and an expensive watch and he coldly looked around the room. He looked like an Italian gangster. He looked frightening until he started to clap too. “I love my family” he said as he stood quickly swaying back and forward “sit down Teddy Bear and have some of this delicious food your little sister made for you” said Frankie and she took his hand. She sat him down and he waved to us all “sit next to me mummy” he said and Frankie kissed his hand “I’m Wolfie remember” he slammed the table “yes I remember” he shouted and my heart went out to him. “Tell the family where you’re going on Monday Teddy Bear” she said as she poured him some tea and put some sandwiches onto a plate for him. “The Beast is taking me on holiday but Wolfie isn’t coming and I’m sad” she gently stroked his face as he munched into the disgusting sandwich and he immediately spat it out and she caught it in her hand. “I don’t like this” he whispered and Frankie whispered “you don’t have to eat it” She wiped her hands and kissed his face. I loved how tender she was with him. “Our house is going to be so quiet without you Teddy” and I felt guilty that I’d accused her of being there with a guy the night Ashton had got drunk. “So Teddy and Wolfie this is Bunny’s new boyfriend Ashton and his brother Jack” said Monkey with a wicked smile because he had been there that day in the meeting room. Kitten walked around the table and sat on Frankie’s knee like she was a little girl. Frankie played with her hair as Kitten cuddled into her neck. It warmed my heart to see her being so kind to Kitten. “Say hello Teddy” she instructed and Teddy turned to me “I have a friend called Jack, he lets me borrow his Lego” he said “I love Lego, do you like football?” I asked and he nodded his head. We spoke about his favourite team for ages and when I looked at Frankie she smiled at me and I wanted her to know that I had her all wrong. Every time she had rushed off I thought she was off to see another guy and it turns out she looked after her brother. “Where are the babies?” She asked and Fox pointed to the bedroom “they’re all together playing some game” she gave him a big smile and I couldn’t help but ask “where’s your other brother?” Bunny shrugged her shoulders and carried on flirting with Ashton even though he was sitting there staring at Frankie. “He just dropped us off, he’s my twin brother” said Teddy “who’s the oldest?” “It’s him that’s why he and Wolfie look after me since my accident.” I wondered what had happened to the poor guy. “The Beast didn’t come today because he said he wasn’t invited but he said he’ll call Bunny later to talk about it” said Frankie and I could see Bunny begin to panic. We all sat together and I must admit the whole family were really good company. I liked them and we had a lot in common. Tiger took Teddy into the bedroom to see the kids and Frankie looked concerned “everyone can I ask you all not to correct him today, he’s sad because I’m not going on holiday with them and he will really kick off if anybody points out a mistake to him” they all nodded in agreement and after five minutes Frankie couldn’t stand it any more and she got up and went into the bedroom to look in on him. I was touched by how mush she cared and loved her brother. When she left I heard Bunny whisper to Fox that she had invited them and that Wolfie was over reacting. He told her to shut up and I couldn’t help but smile because it’s exactly what I would have said to her.

We sat around listening to stories about when they were all young and all the crazy stuff they got up to and I noticed that Bunny wasn’t in any of the stories. It didn’t take long to figure out that this family had come from an abusive childhood. Their father sounded like a psychopath and Monkey was laughing as he told a story about how their father had put him and Wolfie in hospital at the same time and how it was like a holiday to them. But their sister Mamba couldn’t let their dad away with it and she took her skipping ropes and tried to strangle him. My heart broke to think that Frankie had been treated like that and I was terrified of her sister because she sounded nuts. Every story ended with their sister Mamba attacking their father and I was impressed that she was the only one to stand up to him. The last story wasn’t as funny because they told me that their father broke Mambas jaw so she found out where his boss lived and then caught the bus and skipped outside his house until the he came outside and when he asked her what happened to her face she told him it was her dad and that he worked for him. Their father was fired the next day and Mamba was sent to Italy until he had calmed down. Monkey had a few too many glasses of wine and leaned in and said “Teddy wasn’t always like this he had a brain injury.. it was my dad..he ..well it doesn’t matter but we all take turns looking after him but he’s lives with Wolfie” I wondered if their upbringing was why they were all so aggressive and if that was why Kitten looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. “What was all that about the shoes with kitten?” I asked and Monkey shook his head. “My dad used to make us take our shoes off at the door and place them in a certain way. It’s such a trigger to us all especially for poor little Kitten and that b***h Bunny knows it” I felt awful for each one of them especially Kitten and Teddy. “your dad sounds like a monster” I said and Monkey just laughed “he was a monster, we’ve all got the scars to prove it” my blood ran cold. I hated my dad for years for abandoning me with my mum to have a life and a new family in America but to hear what this lot had lived through made me see that my life had been a walk in the park. A little while later Frankie and Teddy and Tiger came out of the bedroom and she said that Teddy was tired and needed his nap and that they had to go home for a rest. I wanted to grab her and ask her to stay but I decided that I would leave it until I had sobered up and ask to speak to her so I could apologise to her. She was holding Teddys hand when he said “I’m tired mummy and I’m going on holiday tomorrow” and she stroked his arm and gently said “lets go, say goodbye to the family” Bunny stood up and said “she’s not your mummy, that’s Wolfie and you go away on holiday on Monday silly” then she let out an obnoxious laugh and Teddy lashed out and Frankie hit the wall hard. I didn’t know how to react. Teddy obviously didn’t mean to hurt her and he started to cry. Frankie jumped to her feet “don’t cry Teddy I’m fine” she said in a sing song voice and Lion said “Wolfie your arms out the socket” as he finished his glass of wine. Nobody rushed to help her or even ask if she was ok. They were all giving Bunny dirty looks and tenderly telling Teddy that he hadn’t done any thing wrong. Frankie looked down at her arm and turned and repeatedly smacked her shoulder off the wall until there was a loud click noise then she rotated her arm and turned to us all with a huge smile “there we are, good as new” I had never seen anything like this before and I couldn’t just sit there so I jumped to my feet “are you alright Frankie? Do you need to go to hospital?” She looked at me like I was crazy for even suggesting such a thing and then she gave me a huge smile “no I don’t need an ambulance but Bunny will need one soon” she said and the boys all laughed as they said goodbye to Teddy. When no one was looking Frankie brushed my arm and smiled at me and I wanted to grab her. I wanted to look after her. I didn’t want to let her go. “I’m going to have a family dinner tomorrow night, if you and Ashton would like to come over. I promise the food will be better than all this rubbish” she said pointing to the table. “Don’t be unkind Wolfie” said Teddy and she apologised to him. I liked that she still treated him like the big brother. Ashton stood up and said he’d love to come over and I nodded my head in agreement. She yelled through to Kitten “dinner tomorrow don’t be late” As she was leaving the brothers were all asking for their favourite dessert or wine and she was just nodding her head at them as if it went without saying. As soon as they were gone Bunny stood up to clear some of the plates away. “I think we should have a family chat about Teddy” she said and I seen Tiger rub his forehead before he asked what about? She looked at him like he was an i***t, she was a patronising little cow. “Teddy’s going to end up killing her one of these days. He’s dangerous” she said and the room fell silent. “Don’t bring him up again Bunny, they’ll kill you if they hear you talk like that about Teddy” but she just ignored his threat “you lot can bury your head in sand all you like but he’s hurt her so many times, it’s only a matter of time before he hurts one of the kids” she said pointing to the bedroom. Monkey stood up and so did his wife. “I can’t listen to this I’m leaving” he said and I didn’t blame him. “We should look into putting him into a home. That way they can look after him or at least sedate him” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had to get away because this was family business but I felt like I couldn’t keep my mouth shut for one more minute. My mum always told me I was too honest for my own good and I didn’t want to get involved and I could see Ashton staring at me across the table like he was begging me not to get involved. I was about to explode on her when Fox stood up and put on his coat “tell you what, why don’t you call the Beast and Wolfie and say all this to them. But make sure I’m not there because I don’t want to witness another murder. Thanks for the s**t sandwiches” he said as he left. I was drunk and my nerves were shattered. What did he mean ‘another murder’ I called my driver but he was stuck in traffic so I had to sit there as one by one all of the Archer brothers and their families left. They all said goodbye to me and Ashton, but none of them even acknowledged Bunny. When they had all left it was just me Ashton, Kitten and Bunny. Kitten was a bundle of neves and I tried to speak to her but she would only give me one word answers. Then Bunny said we should all go out on a double date. Kitten shot her a look and said “you’re embarrassing me” My driver text me to say that he was waiting outside and there was no way I was leaving Ashton with her. She was the worst woman I had ever met so I told him he was coming with me. That’s the thing with Ashton you could easily boss him around and this little b***h could tell that he was a walk over. As we got into the car I said “You shouldn’t be seeing her Ashton, she’s bad news. Even her own family can’t stand her. Frankie told her not to correct Teddy and look what she did” But I could tell that my words weren’t getting through to him. “I know what I’m doing” he said and he had a smug look on his face like he knew something that I didn’t.